Hawaii Island first time legislator,
Nicole Lowen (Kailua-Kona, Holualoa, Kalaoa, Honokohau) was in for a big
surprise last month. The freshman
legislator was doing the people's business when she was summoned to the office
of House Speaker Joe Souki. Feeling like
a student heading for the principal's office, Lowen dutifully began her journey
to the fourth floor of the capitol.

But it was not just
Speaker Joe waiting for her. Her fellow
freshman colleagues were there to surprise her with a brand new, sparkling
bike! Lowen's bike, her sole source of
transportation while in Honolulu, had been stolen from a well known Oahu
shopping center earlier in the month.

Not ones to stand
idly by while a colleague was in need, the freshman class in the House of
Representative (Kaniela Ing, Bertrand Kobayashi, Richard Onishi, Gregg
Takayama, Romy Cachola, Takashi Ohno, and Justin Woodson) and three members of
the senior class (Joe Souki, Scott Saiki and John Mizuno) chipped in to buy
Lowen a new bicycle. Moral of the
story…don't mess with the Freshman Class!
And, oh yeah…the old guys, too.